Forest Hills students named winners in film festival

Three Forest Hills students were winners in this year's Meijer Great Choices Student Film Festival. Forest Hills Northern student Dylan Malburg took two $2,000 first-place awards and two $1,000 second-place awards for his entries. Forest Hills Northern student Matthew Morello took a $1,000 second-place award, and Forest Hills Eastern student Bryce Boverhof won a third prize worth $500.

An awards ceremony and a showing of the winning entries took place June 7 at Celebration Cinema North in Grand Rapids.

More than 300 entries were submitted in the contest, in which students create 30-second public service announcements on topics of healthy lifestyles, celebrating diversity or character education. Eighteen Michigan high school students were named winners, and a total of $21,000 in prizes was awarded.

Sixty Michigan students received trophies for their top videos.

In August, the winning PSAs in each category will be reproduced on DVDs and distributed to schools across the state as tools for their character education, health education and diversity programs. Winning videos have been placed on YouTube under GreatChoicesFilmFest.